The Reception of Hungarian Music and Guest Artists in Performances with Fritz Reiner and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Hungarian-American conductor Fritz Reiner (1888-1963) began his American career with the Cincinnati Symphony in 1922. Reiner’s next post as music director of a symphony orchestra was with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1938-1948). During his tenure there, Reiner endeavored to improve the orchestra and to elevate its status as a cultural landmark of the city. Despite various obstacles, including financial concerns and acoustical issues in the Syria Mosque, Reiner engaged world-class soloists and guest conductors to perform with the PSO and released a number of important recordings. Although Reiner did not market himself as a specialist in Hungarian music, his work with prominent Hungarian musicians, such as Joseph Szigeti, Zoltán Kodály, and Béla Bartók, was significant, and his connections to his compatriots were emphasized in the press coverage of their guest performances in Pittsburgh. In addition to featuring these artists on concerts in Pittsburgh, Reiner conducted Bartók’s works on over twenty concerts between 1941 and 1948, including a performance of Bartók’s Piano Concerto no. 2 with the composer as soloist in 1941. With the PSO Reiner also premiered Bartók’s revised Second Suite for Orchestra and released the first commercial recording of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, a recording that garnered national attention at its release. This paper explores Reiner’s tenure with the PSO and the reception of Hungarian guest artists in the Pittsburgh press, using concert programs, correspondence, local and national news coverage, conducting notes, and archival documents from the PSO Archives, Fritz Reiner’s estate, and the Budapest Bartók Archive.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Sarah Lucas teaches music history at Drake University and leads the Des Moines Symphony’s Classical Conversations series. She completed her PhD in musicology at the University of Iowa in 2018. Her dissertation, “Fritz Reiner and the Legacy of Béla Bartók’s Orchestral Music in the United States,” is based on archival research carried out in the U.S. and Hungary, where she conducted research with the support of a Fulbright Award. Her master’s work at the University of Missouri culminated in her thesis “Béla Bartók and the Pro-Musica Society: A Chronicle of Piano Recitals in Eleven American Cities during his 1927-1928 Tour.”